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Dentists drill home point: We don't want to move for Lowell High project (VIDEO)

By Chris Lisinski, clisinski@lowellsun.com

Updated:
06/07/2017 08:51:36 AM EDT

From left, orthodontist Stephen Reicheld, former Lowell City Manager John Cox and dentist Evan Coravos speak during a Tuesday meeting about the possibility of their business being taken by eminent domain for the Lowell High project with Sun editors. (CHRIS LISINSKI)

LOWELL -- Dentists who have spent decades practicing in an Arcand Drive building said they are adamantly opposed to vacating their location to make way for a new high school, regardless of what price the city offers.

The building, constructed in 1970 by a group of dentists who wanted to house their practices in the same location, is being eyed by the city as a possible site for a new Lowell High School. The so-called "Option Three" would seize the parcel at 75 Arcand Drive -- initially acquired from the city by the group of dentists -- through the process of eminent domain.

Meeting with editors of The Sun on Tuesday, two of the current owners and former City Manager John Cox, who is serving as their attorney, said they oppose Option Three and would not give in even if offered more compensation than the assessed value of the building.

"Our message has been consistent: these guys don't want to leave," Cox said.

Six practices share the building: two general dentists, an orthodontist, an endodontist, a pediatric dentist and an optometrist. The doctors employ 60 people, including 23 Lowell residents.

Stephen Reicheld, whose father, John, was one of the founding members in 1970, told The Sun Tuesday that the offices all collaborate with one another, working to offer a full range of dental care to patients from the same central location.

Reicheld said he believes if the city seized the property and forced the practices to leave, they might not be able to replicate the same sort of cohesion.

"We, literally, every day go between the offices and talk over cases. There's a symbiotic relationship that gets better and better."

Evan Coravos, the other dentist who spoke with The Sun on Tuesday, is a Lowell resident and Lowell High School graduate (1973). He described the practices as "part of the community. Coravos said he worries about what would happen to patients already in treatment if the practices were forced to leave.

"We don't know the schedule," he said. "But we can't just vanish."

He said the physicians have been averaging a total of 35,000 patient visits per year at the building.

While the group has been in talks with the current city administration, Cox said no official offer for the parcel has been received.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on a plan for the high school at its June 13 meeting. Several options, including eminent domain, renovation of the current site and construction of a new school at Cawley Stadium, remain on the table.

Discussion around the issue has prompted tensions and flare-ups. Coravos said he has avoided reading social media as much as possible in recent months due to the "vitriolic" tone of some comments.

Cox and the dentists said they hope the city chooses one of the other options for the high school's future, but they would not say specifically which one they support.

Altogether, the building pays the city about $50,000 a year in property taxes, Cox said. The former city manager argued that the practices also generate business for the downtown area.

"The city should be using these guys as a commercial for what can go right in downtown for a practice for 50+ years," he said. "... It's a head-scratcher why people have focused on this building."

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